Day 795 Tuesday March 12, 2019
601 Days to the 2020 election and 679 Days to Inauguration Day
Every day this week another criminal uncovered in the Mueller probe will go before a judge to learn more about their fate. Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone (again), Rick Gates is the line up Monday through Friday.
In a hilarious piece of, (I dunno what to call it, silliness?) Roger Stone and his lawyers are crying crocodile tears because he is rereleasing a book with a new intro. The intro is about the case he has been gag-ordered on. The legal team is arguing that the man needs to make a living. Gee, I wish he’d go before the House committee and we could get those Reps to ask him, like they did Michael Cohen, to forego any profits from a book or movie deal. Wouldn’t you love to hear Roger play “poor me”?
Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi (or as Donald calls her “Nancy”) has said she’s not for impeachment. Well this got everyone buzzing. This even got the White House to hold a press conference. The first in 42 days. Okay, maybe they had another reason to hold one. I forget what they were trying to distract us from. I think Sarah Sanders is incredible. To lie like that and seem to feel no remorse is stunning. It’s not like Jared, who from recent accounts is the dumb dark lord, but he appears so young freshly scrubbed face innocent.
Nancy is really really smart politically. Why push for impeachment and take up all the time and resources that would take for Mitch in the Senate to do what he’s been doing all along – nothing (except pushing through right wing judges that will screw up the country for generations)? Nancy will wait until the Mueller report comes out (or the president is shackled and dragged out of the White House) and then she, like Mitch, will count Senatorial votes, if the count to impeach goes to 67 Senators, then she’ll act. In the meantime she’ll keep working on things that actually help people in this country. She also realizes that if Trump goes Pence becomes president (Ouch, that’s like the old joke about Nixon when Agnew was VP. Nixon would say, “Either give me what I want or I’ll go in the White House and kill myself.” (The implication being that Agnew would be much worse.) )
And then Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apparently drew the largest crowds at Davos. Standing room only, out the door. Her message? The rich have to pay taxes; a combination of capitalism and government working together (sometimes called socialism) is the best way for a society to move forward, and – oh yeah – if we don’t address climate change we’re screwed. Also, she pointed out again and again that we as a society, as individuals, as governments, as countries are able to do great things. Think big, act. ( Fucking Commie Socialist. What the hell? )
Then there was the testimony of the head of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau being interviewed by Congress. The woman didn’t know what went into an Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Now, if you are head of the agency whose main responsibility is protecting folks from high interest rates then knowing what things go into the calculation of those interest rates is a pretty important thing to know. But she didn’t. She was also asked to calculate an APR based on a payday lender type example (You borrow $200 for two weeks at a setup cost of $20 and a rate of $10 per hundred for the two weeks. What is the APR?) I did the calculation in my head (520%). The woman, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not only couldn’t do the calculation, she had no idea where to start. The rep asking the question offered to loan her a text book on the subject if she needed it. The textbook the rep had written! Seems to me we need the rep in charge of the CFPB and not this yahoo that Trump picked.
Okay, that’s it.
Well, one more thing. Trump has submitted a budget that cuts health care and social services and increases spending in defense and his wall. What a surprise!
601 Days to the 2020 election and 679 Days to Inauguration Day
PS Keeping an eye on the situation.
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